Roosters win ugly contest over Manly despite Hargreaves dismissal

In the modern game, we rarely see a player sent off for any offence, but in the Roosters 16-4 win over Manly at Brookvale Oval, we saw it – with Sydney Roosters prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves given his marching orders for a high shot on Manly Sea Eagles prop George Rose.

The incident occurred late in the second half and although Rose says that Hargreaves has since apologised, he admits that he was seething at the time of the incident.

“I’m still a little bit sore in the chin. I didn’t actually see what happened but I felt it, she hurt,” Rose said.

“He got me right on the button. I was feeling it for the next 15 minutes, I was running around on some wobbly legs.

“That’s the closest I’ve come to being knocked out on a footy field.”

Struggling to crack the first-grade side regularly this year, Rose was given an opportunity to play given a few injuries and said this particular hit was the worst he has received in his career.

“It’s the biggest effect that I’ve had from a high shot, I’ve copped a few over my time but that one rattled me a little bit,” he said.

“I’m actually mates with Jared off the field so I was a bit disappointed.

“I had a few words with him because I was disappointed that it happened.

“But he came up after the game and apologised … and I appreciate and respect that.

“I’ve got no beef there at all, I’m happy to move on to next week.”

Trent Robinson, the Roosters coach, took a different approach – rather than going on about the decision, he just said that he had seen worse this season.

“I think it’s contentious,” he said.

“I’m not sure if it’s worst I’ve seen. But if that’s the way they (referees) are going to go, then fine.

“But they need to be consistent and not fluctuate. I think things may have changed since the Manly-Souths game.”

On the win itself, in what was a rather scrappy game, Robinson said he was pleased with how his side responded after going down to 12 men but knows that they have to improve.

“It was gutsy. We didn’t play our best but that was due to a bit of us and a bit of Manly,” he said.

“But we showed great calmness.”

Manly coach Geoff Toovey wanted the focus to be on his own side’s performance, rather than the dismissal of Hargreaves, as he lamented the errors his side made.

“It was a bit scrappy and I thought at times we had gone back to the five-metre rule,” he said.

“It’s not up to me to comment on the send-off, but I noticed after it happened they got the next three penalties.